The French presidential election
Va, Ségolène, je te soutiens! (Go, Ségolène, I support you!)
The first round (le premier tour) of the French presidential election will be held on Sunday, April 22nd. Unless one of the several candidates wins a majority in the first round (which isn't likely to happen this time), there will be a second run-off between the two top candidates on May 6th.
Why do I support Ségolène Royal, the Socialist (female) candidate? I am not a socialist. I support her for an irrational reason (just as my wife, and many other women, like or dislike people in the news).
First, because she was born at a French army base in Ouakam, outside of Dakar, Sénégal, in what was then French West Africa, on September 22, 1953. I was living and working in Dakar at the time--I worked there for Texaco, the international oil company, from January 1953 to October 1954 (part of which time I lived at Kilomètre 5, route de Ouakam).
Second, she has a really cool website http://www.desirsdavenir.org/index.php , in which she uses the informal "thou" and "thee" (tutoiement) with the voters she is trying to win. I have mixed feelings about such use in languages other than English (see my 4/25/06 posting No "thou" and "thee" in English), but I like it from her.
Imagine, Madame la Présidente, the first woman president of France.
The first round (le premier tour) of the French presidential election will be held on Sunday, April 22nd. Unless one of the several candidates wins a majority in the first round (which isn't likely to happen this time), there will be a second run-off between the two top candidates on May 6th.
Why do I support Ségolène Royal, the Socialist (female) candidate? I am not a socialist. I support her for an irrational reason (just as my wife, and many other women, like or dislike people in the news).
First, because she was born at a French army base in Ouakam, outside of Dakar, Sénégal, in what was then French West Africa, on September 22, 1953. I was living and working in Dakar at the time--I worked there for Texaco, the international oil company, from January 1953 to October 1954 (part of which time I lived at Kilomètre 5, route de Ouakam).
Second, she has a really cool website http://www.desirsdavenir.org/index.php , in which she uses the informal "thou" and "thee" (tutoiement) with the voters she is trying to win. I have mixed feelings about such use in languages other than English (see my 4/25/06 posting No "thou" and "thee" in English), but I like it from her.
Imagine, Madame la Présidente, the first woman president of France.
posted by Mycroft Watson at 11:03 PM
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
1 Comments:
Dad,
My recent trip to England for an International Sales Meeting was quite eye opening. While most of my counterparts around the globe had questions about President Bush and his policies (which you will be happy to know I addressed to their satisfaction), the ONLY UNQUESTIONED COMMON THEME worldwide was that EVERYBODY had a mutual hatred for the French. I found that amusing. Who cares who their president is? On the world stage, I've learned that France is irrelevant (at least by popular opinion)
MH
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